Johnny "John" Magowan (born 10 June 1941 in

Newtownards Newtownards is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtownard ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

) is a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

former professional

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, missiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dar ...

player who competed in the

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World ...

and

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and amateur darts competitions in Britain. The BDO was a founder ...

events.

BDO career

MaGowan reached the final of the Isle of Man Open in 1994, losing to

Mick Manning Mick Manning (born 1959) is a British artist and creator of children's books. Biography Manning was raised in Haworth, near Keighley, Yorkshire, England. He first attended Bradford College, then studied graphic design at the University of Nort ...

. In 1997, MaGowan reached the quarter finals of the Dutch Open and the WDF World Cup as well as the 1998 Norway Open. MaGowan's only major tournament in the BDO came in the 2001 World Masters, losing in the first round to John Walton.

PDC career

Shortly afterwards, MaGowan switched to the PDC and in his first tournament, he reached the semi finals of the UK Open Scottish Regional Final. A quarter final in the 2003 Eastbourne Pro followed and MaGowan played in the 2003 UK Open where he entered the third round outright but lost to Wayne Jones. He then played in the 2003 World Grand Prix in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, losing in the first round to

Wayne Mardle Wayne Elliot Mardle (born 10 May 1973) is an English former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). He was runner-up in three PDC majors, losing to Phil ...

. MaGowan reached the last 16 of the 2004 UK Open, starting in the first round with a 5–0 win over Moe Whelan. He then beat

Steve Hine Stephen "Steve" Hine (born 20 April 1969 from Coventry) is an English professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation events. He works as a baker and consequently he is nicknamed The Muffin Man. He is well known for bringing muff ...

, Steve Johnson, and Steve Evans before losing to

Kevin Painter Kevin Painter (born 12 July 1967) is an English retired darts player, known as "The Artist". He is arguably most famous for finishing as the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2004 PDC World Championship final, now widely credited as one of the ...

. MaGowan qualified for the 2005 World Grand Prix and beat

Alan Caves Alan Caves (born 5 January 1966) is an English former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career Caves' best run came at the 2004 UK Open where he reached the last 16, ultimately losing to Ala ...

and then

Peter Manley Peter David Manley (born 7 March 1962) is an English former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events from July 1996 until 2017. He won one major title, the Las Vegas Desert Classic, in 2003, and twi ...

to reach the quarter finals. The run though was temporarily halted when he and his wife Maggie travelled to his son's wedding by helicopter before returning to the Citywest Hotel for his quarter-final game with Dennis Smith but the fatigue obviously got to him as he was beaten 4–0. MaGowan qualified for the 2006 PDC World Darts Championship where he lost to

Dennis Priestley Dennis Priestley (born 16 July 1950) is an English former professional darts player. He has won two world championships, and was the first player to win both the BDO and WDC (now PDC) world championships, in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He is ...

in the first round. He then had one of his best tournaments in the 2006 UK Open Darts when he made it to the semi-finals beating Painter, Matt Clark,

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player currently playing in the PDC. He is a two-time PDC World Darts Champion, winning in 2011 and 2012. He is nicknamed Jackpot, as he won a jackpot gambling in Las Vegas ...

and

Robbie Green Robbie Green (born 19 July 1974) is a former English professional darts player. His nickname was Kong. PDC career Green made his televised debut at the 2004 UK Open, reaching the last 64 stage. The same year he qualified for the World Matchp ...

before losing 11–7 to the eventual winner of the tournament

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player. Nicknamed Barney, although originally known as The Man, he is one of the most successful darts players in history. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Champ ...

. He collected £7,500 in prize money. He then managed to qualify for the 2006 Las Vegas Desert Classic and beat

Gerry Convery Gerald "Gerry" Johnny Convery (born September 27, 1955) is a former Northern Irish born Canadian professional darts player. Darts career From Winnipeg, Manitoba, Convery played in the 2001 Winmau World Masters, where he lost in the Last 192 st ...

in the first round before losing to Chris Mason in the second round. His 2007 UK Open campaign began in the third round but was beaten 11–1 by van Barneveld. MaGowan's 2008 UK Open campaign was supposed to start in the second round, but his opponent Jimmy Mann could not play and he received a bye into the third round where he lost to fellow countryman

Brendan Dolan Brendan Gabriel Dolan (born 2 August 1973) is a Northern Irish professional darts player from County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is best known for becoming the first player to hit a ...

. In 2008 MaGowan wrote darts history by throwing a 9-dart finish at the PDC Players Championship in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Aged 67 he became the oldest darts-player to throw a 9-darter in an official tournament. He went on to reach the quarter finals. He returned to

for the 2008 World Grand Prix but lost in the first round to

Colin Osborne Colin Osborne (born 19 June 1975) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. In 2009, he won the Championship League and reached the final of the UK Open. Darts career Osborne has won two ...

1–2. MaGowan won one of eight places for the

2009 PDC World Darts Championship The 2009 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was the 16th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event took place at Alexandra Palace in London from 19 D ...

at the qualifiers in

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in the same direction. With an est ...

. He defeated Mason 3–0 in the first round but lost to Priestley in the second round 1–4. MaGowan withdrew from the 2011 UK Open, where he was due to play

Shaun Griffiths Shaun Griffiths (born 24 November 1991) is an English professional darts player who currently plays in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career Griffiths won consecutive Winmau World Youth Masters titles in 2007 and 2008. In 201 ...

in the first round, after suffering a hip injury. He has not played in any PDC tournaments since, and at the 2011 World Grand Prix, commentator John Gwynne suggested that MaGowan had retired from professional darts.

Personal life

MaGowan and his wife Maggie were married for 8 years. MaGowan gains most of the practice in a shed in his garden where at one stage, his wife locked him in his shed while going out shopping and was left in his shed for around five hours. Maggie died in May 2010.Maggie MaGowan
PDC.tv MaGowan is an avid

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

fan, with MaGowan using blue flights on his darts to signify this.

World Championship results

PDC

* 2006: First round: (lost to

1–3) * 2009: Second round: (lost to

1–4)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Magowan, John Darts players from Northern Ireland 1941 births People from Newtownards Living people British Darts Organisation players Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders PDC World Cup of Darts Northern Irish team